Acrylic Pouring..."Swimming Upstream"

Several months ago I rediscovered acrylic pouring. I had been having fun experimenting with watercolor and yupo paper... this seemed the next step in my attempt to be loose. It was time to let the medium (in this case acrylic paint) do the work.

I began by wetting watercolor paper on both sides. This helps keep the paper from buckling. I wiped it off a little and laid it on wax paper on a stiff backing. I covered the entire piece of paper with white paint (that had been mixed with Floetrol - a pouring medium.) Then I began to drizzle paint all over it. I wanted to create a lot of 'cells' (paint 'bubbles') so I added a few drops of silicone to the paint.

At this point I was ready to do some swiping. I took some small stiff pieces of paper and dragged them over the paint at an angle. This technique brings up the cells.

You can see some of the cells appearing!

The next day, after it had dried, I began to look for 'something' in it. I turned it in different directions and tried looking for interesting images in this design.

The following week, I showed all this to my art group and they loved it... several of them saw fish swimming. 

I then decided to have some fun with this and began finding as many fish as I could. As I found a fish, I added eyes...  I started to get carried away and had to stop myself at one point because I saw fish everywhere!  Take a look... I am sure you could have added even more eyes!

So, this became "Swimming Upstream."  It is currently part of the SMAL Members' Show hanging at the St. Michaels Library during the month of June. In July, it will be part of an exhibit at Blue Crab Coffee in St. Michaels. Stop by and count the fish!

More acrylic pours to come...

One other note - This blog site has notified my that as of July, the automatic notification to many of you who have subscribed to this blog will no longer be operative. I am going to try to figure out how to find out who you are and get messages to you...but I find this electronic issue challenging! Will do my best to keep you informed!

Dolphin Pond

 About the same time that I was working on 'Falling Leaves' (see previous blog), I was also working on this painting.  I was using yupo paper and experimenting with a different color palette. 

I dropped (or really 'glopped') in yellow and blue and then sprayed it so it would run down the paper. Of course, the two colors made their own green. I am always curious about what paint will do when I spray it and let it paint itself. 

I wedged it upright with a piece of wood so it would continue to 'paint itself' and left it to dry for a day.

When I came back to it the next day, it had changed a little, but not much. 

I wasn't sure what I might be looking at so I began to turn it around in different directions.

Someone in my art group suggested that it looked like dolphins swimming! I could see that, but they were swimming off the paper...

I turned the paper around and wanted to add something. I don't really think dolphins would be found in a lily pond, but I was feeling playful... and started painting in some water lilies.

Now the dolphins are swimming in the other direction through the water lilies! Think 'abstract'...  I added a few more lilies and decided that enough is enough. 

I recently read an encouraging blog that said sometimes you need to keep going even though you think you are finished. And, sometimes you need to stop before you think you are done! Not sure which this is...

'Dolphin Pond' probably could have gone in several different directions, but I had fun with it.